Winding and Longing
by My heart beats only for you
Summary: One shot. The road is winding and Seth Cohen is staring straight ahead with absolute no noise which he called “speaking”, escaping his lips.


**Title: **

Winding and Longing.

**Summary:**

One shot. The road is winding and Seth Cohen is staring straight ahead with absolute no noise- which he called "speaking", escaping his lips.

**Disclaimer: **

My words, my plot and my effort. It's just not my show … Sigh.

**Author's Note:**

¬ Seth-centric but oddly enough, all the italics are from Ryan's point of view. The rest is first person.

¬ Thanks for reading, sucka-foo! Enjoy…

* * *

The road is winding and Seth Cohen is staring straight ahead with absolute no noise- which he called "speaking", escaping his lips.

No less then twenty minutes before, Ryan and Marissa were happily traveling down the very road when they came upon The Cohen's SUV parked crookedly on the right shoulder.

Ryan instructs Marissa to pull over and once she does so, he jumps out, jogs toward the drivers side where he find Seth, somewhat hunched over with an odd look on his face.

Palm connects with glass, thumping twice to get the boy's attention.

Seth's head snaps toward the noise, startled.

"It's just me…" He starts, "What happened?"

Of course, he isn't answered and a part of him had expected that- had dreaded that.

He runs dirty hands down his face, twists his body back to Marissa's fun sports car and oddly shakes his head. From where he's standing he thinks he sees her jaw drop, her hands coming up, shoulders rolling to form a bewildered shrug.

He heaves a frustrated sigh as if a blind panda could easily read his body language. He shoots a quick glance of Seth's still figure before he starts toward Marissa's car.

She immediately rolls down her window as he approaches, letting an elbow slip out. Her angelic face twisted with worry and confusion, "He okay?"

"I'm not sure but the car looks okay to drive it back home..."

A subtle shun that he'd hope she'd get and she had after an awkward moment.

That tanned, recently lotioned elbow had recoiled back into the car, followed by a small nod and the replica of a genuine smile.

"Let me know…" Was all she said, before she went on her merry way.

He hadn't even told her that he loved her but that really didn't matter to him at that moment.

Not long after she had gone, he races back to the SUV to find Seth outside of it this time. His silhouette was near the passenger side, peering off into the bundle of trees, bushes, and rotted abandoned furniture that surrounded the lonely road.

"What're you-"

Before he could finish, Seth turns his body to him. Eyes sad, guilty, embarrassed, and red-rimmed.

_Had Seth been crying?_

Though Seth Cohen was a sensitive guy, Ryan couldn't recall a time when he'd seen his adopted brother cry.

Just as he decides to meet him on the opposite side, Seth slowly makes his way back toward the drivers seat, his shoulder brushing ever-so-lightly against Ryan's on his way. Climbing into place, he routinely buckles his seat belt, starts the engine up and waits for Ryan to join him.

Once his brother is inside and safely buckled as well, he pulls back onto the road. Eyes low but focused.

As they voyage home, Ryan tries not to let Seth notice that he is, in fact, watching him from the corner of his eye.

He wants so badly to ask him what's wrong and then when Seth would confide in him like he used to, Ryan could assure him that everything will be alright, whatever it may be.

But by the way Seth's hands are griping the wheel, his knuckles white as his complexion, he realizes that everything is far from okay.

So Ryan guesses.

_Perhaps, a falling out with the misses? A bullies harsh remark at school maybe? A fight with Sandy? Or could it be his concern about Kirsten's recovery?_

_No, no, these were all too easy and if it were any of the four, Seth would be ranting and raving, hand gestures and all, all about it._

Ryan lets his baby blues casually skim Seth's appearance from head to toe. He instantly notes that his hair is a mess but lets be honest, when wasn't it?

Eyes then lower down to his face and they linger on his parted and slightly trembling lips for a little too long, causing his own brow to spike in confusion.

With the shake of his head, he continues his inspection.

_His shirt is kind of- Whoa, shit!_

With a swift movement, Seth gives the wheel a hard left and they round the road and start their way back.

"What-" His hand would then come up to clutch that odd useless ceiling handle, eyes wide directed toward Seth. When he does this, he sees a strange look of almost incomprehension playing his face, as he continues to speed down the narrow path.

Ryan hates the fact that the radio wasn't on because all he can hear now is Seth's unsteady breathing.

The sound of the SUV's blinker going off brings Ryan out of his reverie and as he looks up he realizes that they're pulling over to the left.

The motion of the car stops and Seth has yet again jumped out, his legs took him to his left but his eyes looked lost- almost as if he were in a trance.

Forcing himself into action, Ryan slips out of his seat and slowly starts after Seth who was much more deeper into the shoulder then he was before.

Ryan stops a few feet shy of where Seth stood, half his face was illuminated by the setting sun, hands gripping his own shirt, and at that moment Ryan wanted- no, needed to know what was going on.

He steps closer to Seth, a palm prone and raised ready to aware the taller boy that his best friend was there. But something stops him, catching his eye was a small motionless form on the ground maybe ten feet away from where the two stood. Ryan moves to his right, getting a better look and clarifies that it's a dog.

"Is he- did I?" Seth suddenly mutters with exasperation, head lowering downward.

It all made sense to him now but the feeling in the pit of Ryan's stomach didn't fade and all he feels he can do is check for Seth.

Without hesitation, he moves toward the burgundy colored animal. Hunching over, he stares carefully at it's chest, the back of his hand would come up to press against his lips as his eyes settled on a spot where it's furr was matted down with blood.

"Yeah" A beat, "it's, it's dead."

The heels of his hands would come up to cover Seth's eyes. Teeth clenched, shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

"I didn't see him… " He gasps, "God, I'm so sorry I just- I, I didn't…"

Ryan was standing at the full height now, eyes darker, sadder then they'd probably ever be, as he watches Seth and through his low jumbled muttering Ryan clearly hears the word "collar" and it's like someone punched him in his gut.

Nevertheless, he turns back around and immediately spots leather loosely around the Setters' neck and for a moment, he considers lying.

"Yeah…"

There's an internal struggle within Seth, desperately fighting off tears that scream to be free but he simply nods his head, suppressing an impending sob.

"Get it"

"What-"

"Take if off… please"

Ryan blinks, crouches forward slowly and gently removes the collar. His legs take him to where Seth stands, an arm outward, palm clutching the worn out leather.

He takes it with ease and they both sulk back to the SUV where Ryan positions himself inside and where Seth retrieves a blanket from the truck to place over the canine casualty.

The road is winding and Seth Cohen is staring straight ahead with absolute no noise- which he called "speaking", escaping his lips.

Seth reclaimed the drivers seat yet again and before they both know it, they've parked on the curb in front of an average sized home which was only down the road.

Seth let's out a breath, jerks open the door and slowly steps out. He saunters up the walkway leading him to the door, a shaky finger extending to press the doorbell, and nearly jumps when he hears it go off.

Ryan almost doesn't want to look, he slants forward, presses Play on the stereo and turns the volume up just a tad. It played one of Seth's CDs but he couldn't quite pinpoint the band.

"_Love me, cheer me up. Show me you're the one who can make me happy"_

Ryan ultimately watches as the door swings open and a man Sandy's age appears in the frame. The two exchange words he wishes he could hear but he settles on their mouths opening and closing, body language shouting confusion.

He sees the man's mouth twist, his eyes lowering and his head nodding in understanding. He reaches a slightly cupped hand to Seth and the younger Cohen takes his action as him wanting the collar but when he moves up to give it to him the man smiles, shakes his head and takes Seth's hand in his to give it a strong, appreciative grip.

As Seth makes his way back to the car, Ryan sees some innocence leave his brother and he knows that many people wouldn't have done what Seth just did and Ryan finds himself stricken with pride.

The car door opens and Seth appears to Ryan's left. He seats himself down and of course buckles his seat belt.

"You okay?" Ryan asks casually and sees that mop of dark hair bob.

They remain there for a while, the same song playing lightly in the background.

"You did a really brave thing…"

Seth nods but Ryan can tell it wasn't sincere.

"_Cheer me up. Come on and cheer me up."_

He feels the vibration of his cell phone rumbling in his front pocket and immediately knows it's Marissa before he even pulls it out to clarify his prediction. Rolling his eyes, he presses "ignore" and moves to pocket it again but it slips out of his grip and tumbles into Seth's direction.

Seth lowers and snatches it up into his palm, slowly but surely extending it out for Ryan to take. He reaches for it and the second Atwood flesh grazes Cohen, it's over.

Seth's small frame clung to Ryan. His arms wrapped around his neck like if he let go for just a second, the world would crash around him.

He sobbed and rambled and he hit too.

Ryan took it though, a hand would gracelessly come up from behind to rest on Seth's back and he sighs when he feels Seth's trembling form beneath his touch.

"Shh..." Is all he can muster, as his fingers gently stroke in the outline of a small circle in the middle of Seth's back, as Seth weakly punched at Ryan's.

"_And if you can cheer me up I could learn to love you."_

"It's alright," Ryan soothes, "I'm here…"

Fin

**Author's Note:**

And that my friends is why I'm nineteen without my drivers licenses.

Lyrics are credited to The Descendents but Saves The Day did it better ;p


End file.
